Jim Grant / Nevada Appeal
RENO — For 5 1/2 innings, the Carson Blue Jays were headed toward a season-ending two-game winning streak.
Then the bottom of the sixth came along, and the Galena Black Sox tallied four runs on three hits and an error for a 7-6 come-from-behind win Tuesday afternoon at Galena High School.
The loss left the Blue Jays with an 11-19 record this summer.
“Defensively there were three plays in the outfield that we needed to make and didn’t,” Carson coach Bryan Manoukian said. “That was the difference in the game. You can’t give extra outs to a team like Galena. They are too good.
“Jace (Zampirro) battled on the mound. The misplayed ball in right (field) that cost him an extra 15 or 16 pitches. He might have been able to go another inning. He didn’t have his best stuff, but he got outs when he needed them.”
Zampirro did a good job holding Galena’s biggest hitters in check. He held Tim Lichty, Eric Anderson and Wyatt Nebe to a combined 1-for-9. It was the lesser-known hitters on the Black Sox that caused Carson the most problems. Adam Folkers and Andrew Dilillo each drove in two runs in the pivotal sixth inning, and Sammy Baig collected a key hit in the sixth from his No. 9 spot.
“It’s nice to see the kids that don’t always get to play come through,” Galena coach Ron McNutt said. “We had a pretty young group in there.”
Trailing 6-3, Chazz Clark led off the sixth with a groundball to the right of second base. Chazz Nystrom tried to backhand the ball, but was unable to handle it cleanly. After reliever Dom Norton retired Brock Raggio on a fly ball to right, Nathan Barry walked, and was replaced by a courtesy runner. After a stolen base and wild pitch, Dilillo followed with his two-run single. Baig followed with a single, sending Dilillo to second. After Norton retired Ben Barnard, Folkers followed with two-run double to give the Black Sox the lead, 7-6.
Folkers’ stayed in the air for a while, but neither Dustin Dutcher or T.J. Thomsen could come up with it, but Manoukian felt the ball should have been caught.
“I think Dustin thought that T.J. was going to get it,” Manoukian said. “They need to communicate better out there.”
In many instances, the centerfielder usually takes whatever he can get, and Thomsen can cover a lot of ground. He took away two hits from Galena on Tuesday.
Carson threatened in the seventh when Norton beat out a bunt, stole second and moved to third on Nystrom’s groundball to second. Thomsen walked and stole second, but Barry fanned Zampirro to win the game.
Barry picked up the win with three scoreless innings in relief of Jared Kiessling. Barry fanned four and allowed three hits.
“Nathan threw well,” McNutt said. “He’s a good competitor.”
The game was tied at 2 after one, as Zampirro and Thomsen drove in runs for Carson. Anderson and Nebe drove in runs for the Black Sox. Nebe’s ball near the right field fence dropped behind Chase Blueberg, who appeared to misjudge the ball.
Carson made it 5-2 in third on a sacrifice fly by Nystrom, a run-scoring double by Thomsen and a single by Zampirro. After Galena cut the lead to 5-3 with a run in the bottom of the inning, Carson scored again in the fourth on Norton’s run-scoring single.
Norton led the Carson offense with three hits, while Thomsen and Nystrom added two each.
CARSON 7, DOUGLAS 2
Brandon Allen threw six strong innings, and his teammates pushed across four first-inning runs in the easy win on Monday.
Allen allowed five hits and walked one batter in his stint.
Dutcher hit a two-run single to highlight the first inning. John Holton had a run-scoring single and the fourth run scored on an error.
Douglas tallied a run in the second to make it 4-1. The score remained that way until the fifth when Carson pushed across another run on a single by Chase Blueberg. Douglas scored its final run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Logan Fencl.
Carson completed the scoring in the seventh thanks to a run-scoring single by Holton and a bases-loaded walk to Birri, Blueberg, Dutcher and Holton contributed two hits apiece.
Dustin Plante led the Tigers with two hits.